Abstract

Black-British young people are, on average, at least four times more likely to be excluded from school and experience significantly lower levels of academic attainment than their demographically matched white counterparts. This research adopts a social constructionist understanding of resilience to explore how ten Black-British students in an urban secondary school cope within their school and community. It is hoped that the case study of their resiliency adaptations will inform primary and secondary prevention.
The interview transcripts were analysed using Grounded Theory methods (Charmaz, 2006). This involved the continuous analysis and comparison of data. This process produced 81 focused codes and 19 memos. These were conceptualised into three categories, which formed ‘Hope Theory.’ This theory suggests that having educational and vocational aspirations are important in shaping how all young people, not just those of black British cultural heritage, engage in school and in moderating the effects of communities that are perceived as unstable and threatening. Key to hoped-for goals is the ability to identify viable pathways towards their completion and a sufficient sense of personal agency or self-efficacy to attempt them. Comparisons were drawn between Hope Theory and the extant literature, highlighting the Working Alliance as a tool that could help EPs and teachers build social and physical ecologies that support hope and resilience in young people.